Page 77 of Loved Out Loud
I turn to him with tears already streaming down my cheeks. “Yes.”
His face scrunches, and he reaches for a tissue, holding it in front of me until I take it. “I, uh, need to make a few calls to the label real quick.”
Jade giggles deviously as he hauls ass away from us. “I’ve never seen him run from anything that quickly. I should have tried tears a long time ago.” She wraps her arm around my waist. “Let it out. You crying like this is just a sign of deep empathy. Concerts have so much energy, I’m sure you’re just overwhelmed by feeling it all.”
I’ve always wondered about that. If it’s just me picking up on the energy around me and struggling to work through it. I’ve never considered myself to be an empath before, and I still don’t think I am. Emotions and I have too much history for me to really let myself think I’m somehow so deeply connected to those and everything around me.
Stone turns his body from the mic toward me, and his eyes do a full sweep of me, lingering on the tears streaming down my cheeks. A smile blooms across his face, and he winks at mebefore turning back to the crowd. After about twenty minutes, I finally get tears wrangled back into my eyes and can settle in to watching the guys up close.
Tobias is a mystery to me. How he can flail around behind his drum set with so much energy and life while not having eaten for the past twelve hours is bananas. His blond hair, soaked with sweat, falls over his brow as he concentrates on one of the many solos he has throughout the show.
I’m so enthralled watching him that I don’t notice Stone until he’s palming my face and turning my attention to him. His eyes are alight with the high of performing but edged by sharp possession. He’s covered in sweat but doesn’t let that stop him from lowering his mouth to mine.
The kiss is fast and dirty. He slides his tongue past my startled lips and laps at my mouth like a man dying of thirst. I moan at the taste of him, mint and the salt of his skin. But before we totally lose ourselves to each other, he’s pulled away from me by Darren who shoves him back on stage with an annoyed huff.
Stone looks out at the crowd with kiss swollen lips and winks. Feminine cheers erupt when he puts both hands over his mouth and blows a kiss to me. He turns and struts back to his mic, whipping his guitar back to the front of his body.
“Sorry about that. My girl was watching Tobias play his solo, and I had to go remind her who she belongs to.” He looks at me and gives a shit-eating grin. “Me.”
“Oh my god,” Jade whispers.
“Holy shit.” I turn to her with wide eyes. “Did he really just do that?”
“He did.” Darren smirks. “That’ll be making the rounds online. Hopefully it gets enough traction that some of the morning news programs pick it up. That was money.”
“Who cares about money?” Jade scoffs, turning to me. “Stone just laid claim to you on stage in front of nearly seventy thousand people. This is a sellout crowd.”
“No one really knows it was me, though.” Surely it was just for show. We just started fucking, it’s not like we’re dating. Right?
Now’s not the time to be distracted by the what-ifs of what he just said. More than likely it was just for show. All he did was say that I was his girl, not his girlfriend. That’s something I haven’t even considered.
I’m not going to waste anymore time thinking about it. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I step away momentarily to check it. There’s a text from Greg, it’s a photo of him sitting up in bed shirtless and alone save for his laptop.
Greg: I miss you
Greg: When can I see you?
Me: When the tour is over
I black out the screen and walk back over to where Jade and Darren are standing. They’re both so focused on the band I take a moment to observe them. Jade is locked on Xander. Her eyes rarely stray from him, I’ve noticed.
Darren has always intimidated me, the way he walks around fully sure of himself and his place in every room. He’s wearing his usual suit, forgoing a tie and leaving his shirt unbuttoned at the top, showing the slightest hint of a muscled chest. Stone mentioned that he works out daily with the guys, followingthe same fitness regimen. He even occasionally joins Stone for Pilates, but he bitches the whole time.
His attention seems to be focused on Tobias, mostly. Occasionally he’ll glance at the front of the stage where Xander and Stone stand in front of mics, each playing their instruments with surgical precision. But then he’ll direct his gaze right back to Tobias.
I wonder if there’s some drama happening within the band or something. Obviously Stone’s been preoccupied with me. But from what I understand the label wants him writing music, and I know he’s nearly filled his notebook full of ideas. Hell, he didn’t even come to bed until the sun was rising this morning.
I told Anya that he didn’t get any sleep when she showed up with her transportable reformer this morning. She looked at the bedroom door, worry on her face. After explaining that he was just up all night writing, her shoulders loosened, and then she looked at me and said I’d do the workout in his place. She didn’t seem interested in taking no for an answer, so I went with it. Plus, I haven’t worked out in days, it felt good to get back into it.
Jade nudges my shoulder with her own. “You look lost in thought.”
“No.” I shake my head.
“Who texted you?”
“Greg.” My voice goes flat just saying his name.
Seeing his photo did nothing for me either. Two months ago getting a text like that would have had me jumping in a taxi and heading across town to find my way into his bed. Now, there’s nothing. He must have texted me back, I felt my phone a few minutes ago, but I’ll check it later.
